Introduced at //build/ 2012, Maelstrom is
Coding4Fun's latest creation. Step up to the podium and battle against your opponent in full-on stereoscopic 3D! Learn more on how we built it
here.

How to Play

Each player stands at a podium containing a 27" touch-screen, 2 cameras mounted side-by-side for stereoscopic 3D, a rumble floor, and LED lighting. After some smack-talking to each other, players tap their screen to begin. After the countdown, a ball is
launched into the arena. Players move their fingers around on the touch-screen to move the paddle in the 3D arena and return their opponent's volley. If the ball hits one of the glowing blue tiles, it will split into a maelstrom of 3 separate balls which
will be tricky to handle. A player can also charge up their paddle by moving it quickly across the screen to send the ball flying back at their opponent in a quick burst. The first to score 7 points wins! If you can imagine what "ridiculously over-engineered
3D Pong" might look like, you can imagine Maelstrom!

The Hardware

Each game podium contains a Lenovo A720 27" touch screen PC used to control the player's paddle. Lighting along the side rails reacts to the gameplay. Additionally, the platform under each player's feet rumbles thanks to a Sparkfun MP3 Trigger
and bass boosters controlled with a Netduino Plus. The game is projected to a huge screen with an Optoma GT750E 3D projector and 3D shutter glasses. Each podium also contains two Axis M1014 MJPEG cameras pointed at the player to complete the 3D experience.

The Software

The game is a Windows Store DirectX 11.1 game written in C++. DX11.1 provides full stereoscopic 3D support for any 3D-capable display device, be it a projector, an LCD TV, or anything else.

The game controller is a C# / XAML Windows Store application which connects to the "game console" via a standard socket connection. The Netduino Plus corrdinates all of the hardware with a C# .NET Micro Framework application. All of these tie together
into a seamless multiplayer experience!

Source code and an article on how we built it all will be coming soon on Coding4Fun...